Good for you, Benjamin. I was captured by what you said about being the son of an Episcopal Church, and how you characterize the church as smothering the revolutionary teachings of Jesus. I am a retired Episcopal priest. I share your discomfort with the institution. I, too, am working to be open to who I am discovering I am called to be. I am grateful to be 85, if only because the time is drawing near when the scales will drop from my eyes, and,as scripture puts it, "I will know, even as I am yet known." Maybe the toughest piece of your vocation will be the ability and willingness to love and forgive yourself. The extent to which you, and I, can do that, is the extent to which we can see reality beyond the transactional/extraction model that has the world in it's thrall. Part of my spritual discipline is to go to church, and try to be open to the wondrous reality that is so often hidden in the needs of the institution. May God sustain your work.
Dear Blayney, It touches my heart in the deepest of ways to see you engage with Benjamin in this way. ESG and RMR are singing from on high. You and he share a gift, or many gifts- the gift of feeling deeply, seeing truth, and a gift for sharing your truth via the written word. With love to you all.
I'm deeply grateful for the sincerity and clarity of this timely post as I behold the question of 'what is mine to do and how do I BE in bringing this regenerative world that is Life honoring, Life generating, and Life enhancing, into material reality?' Your reverence for listening as sacred is balm for the soul.
Benjamin, this felt intimate in a way that’s rare online. Your reverence for attention landed deeply for me. In a world that fragments and commodifies consciousness, to treat a reader’s time as sacred feels like a moral stance, not just a stylistic one.
I resonate with your sense of living between worlds. I feel that too, the grief of what is collapsing and the quiet, persistent knowing that something more life aligned is trying to emerge. What steadies me is the same question you’re circling. What are we building now, in the cracks? Not just critique, but infrastructure for care, reciprocity, and shared wellbeing.
Your commitment to service over accumulation speaks to me. The river image, the compost image, they feel true. If more of us oriented our work as stewardship rather than self branding, this transition would feel less abstract and more embodied.
Thank you for naming your process so transparently. That, too, feels like part of the integrity this moment requires.
I also gave myself to life. I gave a name to that act: Vivaism. I wrote it down mostly for myself, but I share it from time to time in case it might resonate with someone. https://hackmd.io/@castall/ryBekb2Kkg Step one is: Define for yourself what it means to be alive.
Kudos for leaning in and owning the AI assisted writing your doing.
When reading your posts in the past, I’ve felt a twinge of some emotion that’s hard to place. I resonate with the content, but I saw the fingerprints of AI all over it. This turned me off, but I don’t harbor any judgement for the choice you’ve made.
I’ve struggled a lot with the same choice. Do I go fully into AI and try to leverage it to “accelerate” my work? Or do I hold back from getting pulled fully into the machine, and take a stand for human creativity?
I know it’s ironic that I’m using a machine to communicate now, and many machines are involved in what I’m calling “human creativity”. But something is fundamentally different with generative AI, and it changes the nature of writing.
When we call ourselves writers, what do we actually mean?
As perhaps a counterweight to your accelerationist stance, I would recommend Paul Kingsnorths work. His book Against the Machine takes an opposing position that’s worth considering. He also has a Substack called The Abbey of Misrule.
For what it’s worth, I’ve chosen to publish only my own words here on Substack, but that doesn’t mean I don’t use AI in other applications.
Once again, no judgement and I commend you for owning it. I think the best thing you could do is make it clear from the outset for anyone who wants to subscribe. Some will prefer it, some won’t care either way, and some will be turned away.
I’ll be following along, seeing how this plays out. Good luck Ben!
I think Kingsnorth takes an opposing view of AI but also believes that the Machine won’t stop and that we ought to build the new world around the edges.
FWIW Benjamin, I think your ideas and expression would be better off without AI. They stand on their own and the AI is, rather than accelerating, flattening them. That is just what it does.
That you edit ‘by hand’ and that you use it to augment your existing skill is evident (and why I continue to drop by), but I also think of what Bayo Akomolafe said: The times are urgent; let us slow down.
Have you read Caliban and the Witch? I believe it ie ESSENTIAL reading for anyone engaging critically with machine based culture as it is the only piece of work that really addresses the root of the culture as it relates to the body, specifically women’s bodies. Federici’s research is extensive and analysis so deeply nuanced.
We are WITHnesses and participants in the time in between worlds. Medial, liminal. I feel all this shifts and dance in between fear and excitement from the opportunity to be A part of it all. Well named…
Thank you for revealing a piece of your story and your process with AI. I appreciate learning how that is for you 💕
Good for you, Benjamin. I was captured by what you said about being the son of an Episcopal Church, and how you characterize the church as smothering the revolutionary teachings of Jesus. I am a retired Episcopal priest. I share your discomfort with the institution. I, too, am working to be open to who I am discovering I am called to be. I am grateful to be 85, if only because the time is drawing near when the scales will drop from my eyes, and,as scripture puts it, "I will know, even as I am yet known." Maybe the toughest piece of your vocation will be the ability and willingness to love and forgive yourself. The extent to which you, and I, can do that, is the extent to which we can see reality beyond the transactional/extraction model that has the world in it's thrall. Part of my spritual discipline is to go to church, and try to be open to the wondrous reality that is so often hidden in the needs of the institution. May God sustain your work.
Dear Blayney, It touches my heart in the deepest of ways to see you engage with Benjamin in this way. ESG and RMR are singing from on high. You and he share a gift, or many gifts- the gift of feeling deeply, seeing truth, and a gift for sharing your truth via the written word. With love to you all.
I'm deeply grateful for the sincerity and clarity of this timely post as I behold the question of 'what is mine to do and how do I BE in bringing this regenerative world that is Life honoring, Life generating, and Life enhancing, into material reality?' Your reverence for listening as sacred is balm for the soul.
Benjamin, this felt intimate in a way that’s rare online. Your reverence for attention landed deeply for me. In a world that fragments and commodifies consciousness, to treat a reader’s time as sacred feels like a moral stance, not just a stylistic one.
I resonate with your sense of living between worlds. I feel that too, the grief of what is collapsing and the quiet, persistent knowing that something more life aligned is trying to emerge. What steadies me is the same question you’re circling. What are we building now, in the cracks? Not just critique, but infrastructure for care, reciprocity, and shared wellbeing.
Your commitment to service over accumulation speaks to me. The river image, the compost image, they feel true. If more of us oriented our work as stewardship rather than self branding, this transition would feel less abstract and more embodied.
Thank you for naming your process so transparently. That, too, feels like part of the integrity this moment requires.
I also gave myself to life. I gave a name to that act: Vivaism. I wrote it down mostly for myself, but I share it from time to time in case it might resonate with someone. https://hackmd.io/@castall/ryBekb2Kkg Step one is: Define for yourself what it means to be alive.
Kudos for leaning in and owning the AI assisted writing your doing.
When reading your posts in the past, I’ve felt a twinge of some emotion that’s hard to place. I resonate with the content, but I saw the fingerprints of AI all over it. This turned me off, but I don’t harbor any judgement for the choice you’ve made.
I’ve struggled a lot with the same choice. Do I go fully into AI and try to leverage it to “accelerate” my work? Or do I hold back from getting pulled fully into the machine, and take a stand for human creativity?
I know it’s ironic that I’m using a machine to communicate now, and many machines are involved in what I’m calling “human creativity”. But something is fundamentally different with generative AI, and it changes the nature of writing.
When we call ourselves writers, what do we actually mean?
As perhaps a counterweight to your accelerationist stance, I would recommend Paul Kingsnorths work. His book Against the Machine takes an opposing position that’s worth considering. He also has a Substack called The Abbey of Misrule.
For what it’s worth, I’ve chosen to publish only my own words here on Substack, but that doesn’t mean I don’t use AI in other applications.
Once again, no judgement and I commend you for owning it. I think the best thing you could do is make it clear from the outset for anyone who wants to subscribe. Some will prefer it, some won’t care either way, and some will be turned away.
I’ll be following along, seeing how this plays out. Good luck Ben!
I think Kingsnorth takes an opposing view of AI but also believes that the Machine won’t stop and that we ought to build the new world around the edges.
FWIW Benjamin, I think your ideas and expression would be better off without AI. They stand on their own and the AI is, rather than accelerating, flattening them. That is just what it does.
That you edit ‘by hand’ and that you use it to augment your existing skill is evident (and why I continue to drop by), but I also think of what Bayo Akomolafe said: The times are urgent; let us slow down.
Have you read Caliban and the Witch? I believe it ie ESSENTIAL reading for anyone engaging critically with machine based culture as it is the only piece of work that really addresses the root of the culture as it relates to the body, specifically women’s bodies. Federici’s research is extensive and analysis so deeply nuanced.
Your journey is startlingly similar to mine.
I am ALL-IN.
Namaste
Yes, and: https://substack.com/@fazepoint/note/c-213322345?r=1rqmw&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=notes-share-action
We are WITHnesses and participants in the time in between worlds. Medial, liminal. I feel all this shifts and dance in between fear and excitement from the opportunity to be A part of it all. Well named…
Thank you for revealing a piece of your story and your process with AI. I appreciate learning how that is for you 💕
Beautifully stated, Benjamin. I sense so much alignment with my process.
A new heartfelt republic is emerging.
PS: the picture of the bird cage in your previous essay, may I use it or is it copyright protected?